Othello Poison Quotes

Call up her father,
Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight,
Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen,
And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,
Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,
Yet throw such changes of vexation on ‘t,
As it may lose some colour.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 1, Scene 1. In his bid to ruin Othello, a vindictive Iago hatches a malevolent plan to recruit the easily manipulable Roderigo to do his dirty work for him. He incites Roderigo to wake up Desdemona’s father in order to destroy Othello’s marital bliss and enrage her family by shouting in the streets about the pair’s secret marriage. Iago’s use of poison and plague imagery and metaphor associates him with corruption and disease and foreshadows how he will poison Othello’s mind in Act 3. His racism is also suggested in his wish that the black Othello’s joy will "lose some colour."

For I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leap’d into my seat; the thought whereof
Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 2, Scene 1. Here Iago reveals the reason for his hatred of Othello. He suspects that Othello has slept with his wife Emilia – "leap’d into my seat" (metaphor) – even though no evidence of this is ever presented. In a simile, the jealous Iago admits that the thought of Emilia’s infidelity is eating away at him from the inside like a poison.

For whiles this honest fool
Plies Desdemona to repair his fortune,
And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,
I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear,
That she repeals him for her body’s lust;
And by how much she strives to do him good,
She shall undo her credit with the Moor.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 2, Scene 3. Iago’s devious plan to bring down Cassio, Desdemona and Othello is revealed in one of the most important passages in the play. He uses a disease metaphor to describe how he will whisper poisonous words into Othello’s ear as Desdemona pleads Cassio’s case to her husband. The treacherous Iago aims to use Cassio’s honesty and Desdemona’s good nature to cast her as an adulteress with Othello’s sacked lieutenant. In this soliloquy Iago is delighted with his own badness.

Dangerous conceits are, in their natures, poisons.
Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,
But with a little act upon the blood.
Burn like the mines of Sulphur.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 3, Scene 3. Having weaponized the corrosive power of jealousy to poison Othello’s mind with suspicious thoughts, a gleeful Iago delights in the pain he is causing. Using metaphor and simile, he speaks of Othello’s suspicions and excessive pride – "dangerous conceits" – as a poison that will burn inside him like sulphur. The Machiavellian manipulator uses demonic language here, "mines of Sulphur" being an allusion to hellfire. His hatred of his master is evident here.

It comes o’er my memory,
As doth the raven o’er the infected house,
Boding to all – he had my handkerchief.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 4, Scene 1. When Iago torments Othello about the handkerchief he gave to Desdemona, Othello wishes he could forget it, but he cannot. Obsessed with it, his mind has been so poisoned with jealousy by Iago that his peace of mind is being destroyed. The memory of Cassio with his handkerchief is driving him to the point of madness. A simile using apocalyptic language compares this memory to the ill omen of a raven flying over a sick household to prophesy death. This is foreshadowing of the tragic deaths to come.

O Spartan dog,
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
This is thy work: the object poisons sight;
Let it be hid.

– William Shakespeare

Othello, Act 5, Scene 2. Lodovico addresses Iago and points to the tragic results of his jealous and poisonous manipulation and deception – the deaths of Desdemona, Othello and Emilia. In this pitiful scene, he vilifies Iago with a metaphor, comparing him to a bloodthirsty dog from the ancient Greek city state of Sparta. Spartan dogs were trained to hunt and kill, so Iago’s comparison to them highlights his inhumanity. Lodovico orders the bodies to be covered and hid from sight, as they are worse than pain, hunger and the stormy sea.
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